USATF welcomes seven athletes to Team USA for World Indoors

3/3/2016

INDIANAPOLIS -- Seven athletes have accepted invitations to compete for Team USA at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Portland 2016, including four multi-event athletes and three U.S. victors from the IAAF World Indoor Tour.

Defending world indoor heptathlon champion Ashton Eaton (Bend, Oregon) will look to three-peat in Portland, while 2016 USATF Indoor Combined Events champion Curtis Beach (Albuquerque, New Mexico) has also accepted an invitation from the IAAF to compete on his first senior World Championships team.

On the women’s side of the multis, two-time defending USATF Indoor pentathlon champion Barbara Nwaba (Los Angeles, California) will represent the U.S. in Portland, as well as 2014 IAAF World Junior 100-meter hurdle champion Kendell Williams (Marietta, Georgia) of the University of Georgia, who is a two-time NCAA Indoor champion in the pentathlon.

Three U.S. athletes won wild cards from the IAAF World Indoor Tour to earn their spots to compete in Portland. In the women’s 60-meter hurdles, men’s triple jump and men’s 60 meters, three U.S. athletes will have the opportunity to represent Team USA at the IAAF World Indoor Championships due to the wild cards.

2014 World Indoor women’s 60-meter hurdles champion Nia Ali (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) received a wild card in the women’s 60-meter hurdles after scoring 21 points over three meets on the tour. Ali beat out compatriot Keni Harrison and British Olympian Tiffany Porter to take the wild card after taking the 2015 season off.

Mike Rodgers (St. Louis, Missouri) scored 27 points over the four-meet circuit to cruise to the tour victory in the men’s 60 meters, besting St. Kitts and Nevis Olympian Kim Collins and compatriot Joe Morris. Omar Craddock (Killeen, Texas) won two meets on the circuit, scoring 20 points to beat out 2014 World Indoor Championships national team member Chris Carter and get the wild card. Craddock has competed on two World Outdoor Championships teams, but this is his first World Indoor Championships appearance.

Many of these athletes will compete at the 2016 USATF Indoor Championships in Portland the week prior to the IAAF World Indoor Championships. Tickets for the USATF Indoor Championships can be purchased here and fans can follow along on social media using the hashtag #USATFindoors.